Dr Liam Sims
@liamsims.bsky.social
Rare Books Specialist @theul.bsky.social |
Hon. Secretary @bibsoc.bsky.social | Fellow @antiquaries.bsky.social | Venetophile | Bellringer | PhD on antiquarian networks in 18thC Lincolnshire (thesis linked in pinned post) 🌈
Hon. Secretary @bibsoc.bsky.social | Fellow @antiquaries.bsky.social | Venetophile | Bellringer | PhD on antiquarian networks in 18thC Lincolnshire (thesis linked in pinned post) 🌈
A whole year since our beautiful Monty went out of our lives. Gone but remembered with joy (and occasionally a little sadness) on a daily basis. With @aglmasters.bsky.social.
November 27, 2025 at 8:41 PM
A whole year since our beautiful Monty went out of our lives. Gone but remembered with joy (and occasionally a little sadness) on a daily basis. With @aglmasters.bsky.social.
Wonderful visit to the Kindersley workshop in Cambridge this morning. Amazing place.
November 26, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Wonderful visit to the Kindersley workshop in Cambridge this morning. Amazing place.
A sixteenth-century annotator (and gloriously be-sleeved manicule) possibly quoting Augustine - ‘O admirabile sacramentum’ - in the margin of my copy of St Jerome’s ‘Epistolæ’ (Letters), printed at #Venice in 1496 by Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis.
November 24, 2025 at 9:32 PM
A sixteenth-century annotator (and gloriously be-sleeved manicule) possibly quoting Augustine - ‘O admirabile sacramentum’ - in the margin of my copy of St Jerome’s ‘Epistolæ’ (Letters), printed at #Venice in 1496 by Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis.
A pleasing birthday. Lunch with a lovely friend at Emmanuel, mucho cards, then champagne, wine & lamb. Pretty blessed I’d say.
November 24, 2025 at 8:43 PM
A pleasing birthday. Lunch with a lovely friend at Emmanuel, mucho cards, then champagne, wine & lamb. Pretty blessed I’d say.
Time for some Bolly 🥂
November 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Time for some Bolly 🥂
Birthday eve! Treated deliciously by @aglmasters.bsky.social
November 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Birthday eve! Treated deliciously by @aglmasters.bsky.social
Absolutely love this sailor, by gay Scottish artist Francis Cadell (1883-1937), an ink & watercolour on paper from 1915. According to the gallery label Cadell ‘playfully exaggerates his flirtatious charm’. Spotted at the National Gallery of Scotland last weekend.
November 23, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Absolutely love this sailor, by gay Scottish artist Francis Cadell (1883-1937), an ink & watercolour on paper from 1915. According to the gallery label Cadell ‘playfully exaggerates his flirtatious charm’. Spotted at the National Gallery of Scotland last weekend.
A stunning portrait of the Scottish classical architect Sir William Bruce (c. 1630-1710) & his sexy cravat, painted in the 1660s by John Michael Wright. Bruce remodelled parts of the Palace of Holyroodhouse & designed Hopetoun House. Portrait spotted at the National Gallery of Scotland last weekend.
November 22, 2025 at 10:49 AM
A stunning portrait of the Scottish classical architect Sir William Bruce (c. 1630-1710) & his sexy cravat, painted in the 1660s by John Michael Wright. Bruce remodelled parts of the Palace of Holyroodhouse & designed Hopetoun House. Portrait spotted at the National Gallery of Scotland last weekend.
And @nigella.bsky.social’s chocolate, almond & olive oil cake to finish 🤤
November 21, 2025 at 9:31 PM
And @nigella.bsky.social’s chocolate, almond & olive oil cake to finish 🤤
Birthday dinner for @aglmasters.bsky.social tonight, mostly cooked by him. Julia Child’s coq au vin, Claudia Roden’s (Med) mash with extra virgin & spring onions, & braised cabbage 🤤
November 21, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Birthday dinner for @aglmasters.bsky.social tonight, mostly cooked by him. Julia Child’s coq au vin, Claudia Roden’s (Med) mash with extra virgin & spring onions, & braised cabbage 🤤
Lovely work colleagues just accosted me with ‘happy birthday’ (for Monday) and a Colin the Caterpillar! 🎈
November 21, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Lovely work colleagues just accosted me with ‘happy birthday’ (for Monday) and a Colin the Caterpillar! 🎈
Bought a book in Edinburgh I’ve been after for years but which is so scarce I’ve never seen one for sale. Evans was later the first woman President of @antiquaries.bsky.social. I have a line of Robert Herrick engraved inside my wedding ring, from his ‘A ring presented to Julia’.
November 18, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Bought a book in Edinburgh I’ve been after for years but which is so scarce I’ve never seen one for sale. Evans was later the first woman President of @antiquaries.bsky.social. I have a line of Robert Herrick engraved inside my wedding ring, from his ‘A ring presented to Julia’.
A gorgeous weekend in bright sunny Edinburgh.
November 17, 2025 at 7:19 PM
A gorgeous weekend in bright sunny Edinburgh.
Brandy feeding time 🎄
November 14, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Brandy feeding time 🎄
A wonderfully elaborate binding for Mrs Elizabeth Colles, from the early seventeenth century. It contains three linguistic works, including Thomas Thomas’s Dictionary (Cambridge, 1610). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Rel.d.61.2. #herbook
November 14, 2025 at 12:58 PM
A wonderfully elaborate binding for Mrs Elizabeth Colles, from the early seventeenth century. It contains three linguistic works, including Thomas Thomas’s Dictionary (Cambridge, 1610). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Rel.d.61.2. #herbook
A ghoulish end to Adam Moore’s ‘Bread for the poor: and advancement of the English nation promised by enclosure’ (London, 1653). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Syn.7.60.216(8). #mementomori
November 13, 2025 at 2:34 PM
A ghoulish end to Adam Moore’s ‘Bread for the poor: and advancement of the English nation promised by enclosure’ (London, 1653). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Syn.7.60.216(8). #mementomori
Nice gilt centrepiece, on a copy of Giovanni Botero’s ‘Relations, of the most famous kingdoms and commonweales thorough the world’ (London, 1616). From the library of Thomas Knyvett (1539-1616), High Sheriff of Norfolk & now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social O.9.41.
November 13, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Nice gilt centrepiece, on a copy of Giovanni Botero’s ‘Relations, of the most famous kingdoms and commonweales thorough the world’ (London, 1616). From the library of Thomas Knyvett (1539-1616), High Sheriff of Norfolk & now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social O.9.41.
Caryatids, from the first illustrated edition of Vitruvius, printed at #Venice by Johannes Tacuinus, de Tridino, in 1511. Now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social (via John Moore, Bishop of Ely, died 1714) M.8.47.
November 12, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Caryatids, from the first illustrated edition of Vitruvius, printed at #Venice by Johannes Tacuinus, de Tridino, in 1511. Now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social (via John Moore, Bishop of Ely, died 1714) M.8.47.
A very beardy Robert Sinker (1838-1913), Librarian of @trincollcam.bsky.social 1871-1907. Painted here in 1896 by Charles Brock, sitting in a bay of the Wren Library in his DD gown. The picture is still at Trinity.
November 12, 2025 at 1:25 PM
A very beardy Robert Sinker (1838-1913), Librarian of @trincollcam.bsky.social 1871-1907. Painted here in 1896 by Charles Brock, sitting in a bay of the Wren Library in his DD gown. The picture is still at Trinity.
It me. A slip song printed in the early nineteenth century by John Pitts, printer and toy-seller in Seven Dials (Bloomsbury, London). From the vast and wonderful collection of Madden Ballads @theulspeccoll.bsky.social (volume 9, item 433).
November 11, 2025 at 4:06 PM
It me. A slip song printed in the early nineteenth century by John Pitts, printer and toy-seller in Seven Dials (Bloomsbury, London). From the vast and wonderful collection of Madden Ballads @theulspeccoll.bsky.social (volume 9, item 433).
One for the clergy. From Kelly’s Oxford Directory for 1890-91. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social L481.24.d.4.2.
November 11, 2025 at 11:17 AM
One for the clergy. From Kelly’s Oxford Directory for 1890-91. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social L481.24.d.4.2.
Fun discovery @theulspeccoll.bsky.social today: wonderful 1820s imagery depicting the 11th-century samurai warrior Minamoto no Yoshiie, changing into his armour. CUL FJ.973.50.
November 10, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Fun discovery @theulspeccoll.bsky.social today: wonderful 1820s imagery depicting the 11th-century samurai warrior Minamoto no Yoshiie, changing into his armour. CUL FJ.973.50.
Pointy. In a work by Jerónimo Osório, printed at Lisbon in 1567 and now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Adv.c.8.1.
November 7, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Pointy. In a work by Jerónimo Osório, printed at Lisbon in 1567 and now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Adv.c.8.1.
One of my favourite student seminars of the year, looking at Venetian Sessa imprints wry cats @theulspeccoll.bsky.social 🐱
November 6, 2025 at 11:22 AM
One of my favourite student seminars of the year, looking at Venetian Sessa imprints wry cats @theulspeccoll.bsky.social 🐱